Medical Cannabis Helps Jeremy Manage His Seizures

“Medicinal cannabis is saving Jeremy’s life. Such a statement seems rather dramatic doesn’t it? Honestly, there is no other way to say it,” says Jeremy’s mother, Lyn.

Jeremy Suffers From Acute Viral Encephalitis

Meet Jeremy, an Australian boy who contracted a virus which resulted in Acute Viral Encephalitis when he was just six years old. During this time, Jeremy had to be hospitalized for over a month and was intubated when the doctors could not find a way to control his seizures and the detrimental activity going on in his brain.

In a drug-induced coma for five days, under the watch of supervised health care professionals, Jeremy continued to seize.

At one point, the doctors came out and told his family members that he might not make it. All they could do is wait, hope, and pray that he would make it through the night.

He did survive the attack, although he was left with devastating brain injuries.

Family Loses Hope In Pharmaceuticals, Goes Natural

Despite any signs of progress Jeremy would begin to make toward recovery, including learning to walk, talk, eat, and go to the bathroom by himself again, the relentless seizures continued to strip away most of what he regained.

At times, Jeremy was suffering horribly with up to twenty tonic clonic seizures a day, each lasting between two and five minutes. Some seizures were so bad, they were reported as lasting up to fifteen minutes. Each time Jeremy would seize, he would suffer from cyanosis, a term used to describe someone’s face, hands and other body parts turning blue from lack of oxygen to the brain.

Jeremy is now completely non-verbal, is severely delayed, and needs constant supervision. He is twenty three years old and still seizes.

After the first few anticonvulsants failed to control his seizures, the family began to lose hope in pharmaceuticals. The side effects from the anticonvulsants he was being prescribed have been devastating for Jeremy, at times worse than the seizures themselves, his parents go on to say. This included a laundry list of problems for him, including:

• Allergic reactions
• Gum disease
• Skin burn – from an occluded IV of Acyclovir
• Severe weight gain/loss
• Severe insomnia – from Lamictal
• Cognitive delays– from Topamax
• Respiratory distress – from Midazolam
• Drug induced psychosis – from Keppra and Vimpat
• Toxicity

Jeremy was enduring drug induced toxic episodes at least five times a week under some of the medications. Each time, around 15 minutes after medications were administered, Jeremy would become ataxic, lose his balance, suffer from blurred vision, and often vomit. These episodes lasted for around an hour and are as painful to Jeremy, as they are to his family to witness.

As you would expect, Jeremy has suffered many injuries caused by his extreme seizure activity. This includes bruises and lacerations, which often require sutures. He has knocked several teeth out during epileptic episodes, leaving his teeth worn almost completely down from grinding. His arm has been fused and now has very limited functionality.

Unfortunately for Jeremy, he is not a surgical candidate, as he has too many foci for seizures (located in every lobe of his brain).

So, his parents came to the decision, after much research, to give cannabis a try. Taking this matter into their own hands, Jeremy’s family did this alone, as their neurologist did not believe cannabis would help Jeremy at the time. Even though nothing had worked for Jeremy yet, it wasn’t an easy decision for them to try something that was considered “taboo” in their country.

Whole Plant Cannabis Therapy To Treat Epileptic Seizures

From the very first dose of whole plant cannabis oil, Jeremy began sleeping through the night peacefully. He did not wake up, get out of bed, or refuse to go to sleep like normally. Since Jeremy began consuming cannabis, the continual twitching and spasms that were wrecking his body each and every day were not occurring anymore.

According to his family, Jeremy has not suffered a bout of toxicity, or any other unwanted side effects, since switching to whole plant cannabis therapy.

“His experience with cannabis so far has been nothing short of miraculous…” Jeremy’s mother goes on to say.

“His experience with cannabis so far has been nothing short of miraculous…” – Jeremy’s mother, Lyn

Jeremy has successfully weaned off the anticonvulsant, Vimpat, and they are now weaning him off the pharmaceutical drug, Trileptal. All under the advice and orders of Jeremy’s general practitioner, who continually told his family, “if he doesn’t need it, let’s try weaning.”

However, it’ is not all sunshine and rainbows for Jeremy since switching to cannabis. He still suffers from some tonic clonic seizures now and then, but does recover much quicker than he used to. According to his mother, “Jeremy’s complex partial seizures are no where near as frequent, and he is beginning to go to the bathroom by himself for the first time, after years of being totally reliant on us for assistance.”

He is reported as being much more alert than ever before, with a significant improvement in his behavior, alertness, and overall mood. Jeremy now understands what behaviors are warranted and no longer aims to hurt others around him. “Cannabis has definitely made him less violent/angry at the world. It really has changed his life,” says his mother, Lyn.